Need help finding/installing OS 9.2.2 for iBook G3 800MHz

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alk
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Need help finding/installing OS 9.2.2 for iBook G3 800MHz

I've all of a sudden had a need to install OS 9.2.2 on my iBook G3 800MHz that I picked up from OWC a while back. Apparently, these machines require 9.2.2 with a specific Mac OS ROM file. Of course, OWC isn't selling 9.2.2 on their website anywhere obvious, and their OEM OS X discs (so I can do a restore of 9.2.2) are conspicuously missing from their inventory. It looks like they aren't selling grey discs anymore.

I tried doing a restore of Classic from an iBook G4 DVD I've got. I then blessed the Classic System Folder using the "sudo bless -folder9 System\ Folder/" command in Terminal. Then I used the Startup Disk preference pane to pick 9.2.2 as the boot system and restarted. That (surprisingly) worked, but because the Mac OS ROM file is designed for Classic and not really for the iBook, I only got a letter-boxed 640x480 screen and some other wacky settings. I didn't play around long enough to see if I could make it work and just resolved to find a more complete copy of OS 9.2.2.

So... Does anyone know where I can find a copy of 9.2.2 for my iBook?

FWIW, I've tried installing 9.2.1 from a CD-ROM I've got here, but 9.2.1 won't install. If anyone has any ideas for workarounds I might use (trick the OS 9.2.1 installer by changing the "mach" gestalt, maybe?), I'm all ears...

Peace,
Drew

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ahhh...eBay

ahhh...eBay

alk
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Have you tried looking for OS

Have you tried looking for OS 9 discs on eBay recently?

alk
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Close but no cigar

So I put the iBook into FireWire Target Disk Mode and connected it to my DAG4. I installed OS 9.2.1 from a CD in the Digital Audio and applied the 9.2.2 update. At first, the iBook didn't see the new System Folder as bootable, so I blessed it in OS X as above. Then the Startup Disk pref pane saw the System Folder and allowed me to select it to start up from.

A reboot later and I'm in OS 9. At first glance, everything seems to work normally. But after that first glance, I discover I have no sound, the Monitors control panel shows that the mini-VGA port is active with a 640x480 "phantom" display is hanging out there (not mirrored, which is also strange), and the iBook cannot sleep.

So. Close but no cigar.

Anybody else have any wacky ideas I can try? I've got Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, and Leopard retail discs and install/restore discs for iMac (10.2.something) and iBook G4 (10.3.3) both of which can restore Classic. I have OS 8, 8.1, 8.5, 8.6, 9.0, 9.1, and 9.2.1 full installers on CD, and I have access to all the updaters (8.1, 8.5.1, 8.6, 9.0.4, 9.1, 9.2.1, and 9.2.2). I even have Mac OS X Server v1.2 somewhere...

Peace,
Drew

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Mac OS ROM versions

What is it that you believe to be conferred by the relevant version of Mac OS ROM? What, if you know it, is the version number? True it is that the MDDs that are bootable into OS 9 have v10.2.1 of Mac OS ROM, which is supposed to be friendly towards 48-bit LBA. Re-installing onto second-hand MDDs an OS 9 that can boot from large (>128GB) drives is a pain unless one can find the machine-specific discs with that version. Retail OS 9.2.1 CDs have Mac OS ROM v8.7, which is adequate also for OS 9.2.2 on older Macs ('G2s') coaxed into extended life with OS9Helper, and also for Beige G3s. v9.7.1 of Mac OS ROM is found on machines of the eMac 1GHz vintage, but that is not 48-bit LBA-friendly.

The up-versioned ROM file may not be the whole story. It is conceivable that the accompanying Classic 9.5.0, and Classic Support and Classic Support UI (both v2.2.1) have their parts to play. For what it is worth, I have, on a DA G4/733MHz, a v8.7-containing System Folder running in conjunction (separate partition) with OS X 10.3.9, as well as a v10.2.1-containing System Folder on the Panther volume. On the same Mac is another partitioned drive with OS X 10.2.8 and v10.2.1 as well as v10.2.1 on an OS 9-only partition. On a G4 MDD/1GHz DP there is OS X 10.4.11 on two drives, each with a separate OS 9-only partition, and v10.2.1 in all four System Folders. Finally, an iBook G3/600MHz 14" runs OS X 10.4.11. The Mac OS ROM, in one installation only of OS 9 (on a 1GB partition) is v8.7. No problems.

None of the OS 9 System Folders has a mixed 'Classic' installation, as has been proposed in several places, as a result of a 'foreign'and later version of Mac OS ROM's being dumped into the System Folder of an older release of OS 9.

de

alk
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I don't know what I need, but

I don't know what I need, but as you can see from the post above, a retail installation of 9.2.1 and update to 9.2.2 did not give me the results I expected. According to everymac.com, when Apple started using Radeon chips on iBooks, they also started shipping with 9.2.2. My guess is that something in the ROM tells the OS how to use the video architecture with a Radeon GPU, and I'm missing that with my 9.2.1/2 installation. I don't know the appropriate version number for the ROM file because I don't have it. That's a little chicken & egg problem, there. Wink

I don't really care about large hard drives (though if that is true, then 2002 QuickSilvers would also require that ROM version to boot into OS 9). I always thought the MDD was such a strange beast because it used DDR RAM, not because of the large hard drive support.

I'm actually a little surprised that the update to 9.2.2 didn't work. Apple didn't change much in the design of the iBooks between the introduction of the first dual USB iBook and the introduction of the iBook G4. And 9.2.1 shipped on a bunch of those machines...

Peace,
Drew

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MacOS ROMs

I just test-booted my daughter's 700 16vram (RageM7), using 9.2.1 and MacOS ROM v8.4. It does boot to a 1024 x millions screen, but . . .

I'm getting wierd behavior around display prefs adjustment. I can't open the Monitors CP without a lockup, nor can I use Control Strip to mess with display settings.

You might want to temporarily pull the Prefs folder from the System Folder, that sometimes works to fix glitches like yours.

If you want to experiment, on my Carracho server (in the classic MOS folder) I have a bunch of MacOS ROMs . . . Wink

dan k

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